Consumers of hair products are able to select from a high volume of available products, due in part to the fact that many hair care brands have increasingly large product ranges.
These product ranges may cover various product categories including: shampoos, conditioners, treatments and styling products. Within each product category, a brand may produce multiple versions of a product with the ingredients of each version chosen to address the particular needs of a given target hair type. For example, a given hair type may include one or more of the following: thick hair, frizzy hair, thin hair, colour treated hair, and damaged hair.
Each version of a product could be clearly marketed for its target hair type. However, it may be difficult for a consumer to accurately identify what hair type they actually belong to and the vast array of choice could therefore lead to confusion. When a consumer chooses a version of a product, their choice is usually based on nothing more than their own perception of their hair type and this perception may be inaccurate particularly if it is based on external factors such as advertising or relative comparisons with friends and family. In addition, terms such as “thick hair” or “thin hair” can be open to misinterpretation. For example, a consumer may have many hair strands, but each hair strand may be of a thinner than average diameter.
In the current market, it is therefore easy for consumers to wrongly assign themselves a specific hair type and to select a specific version of a product, the ingredients of which may not be the best match for the actual characteristics of their hair. Such selection of a less than optimal product version can lead to poor customer satisfaction.
There is therefore a need for consumers of hair products to be able to make more accurate, more informed choices about what version of a haircare product is best for them.